Copyright© 2009 All images and text in all categories are copyright of Mary A. Ritter (aka M'Unique) and may not be reproduced without express permission. · Fiber Arts · Tutorials

SNOW FUN!

This December finds us with 10″ of snow. Might as well spend some time snow dyeing some fabric!!

Pre dye fabrics
Fabrics and snow- ready to begin.
Dye colors
Procion Dyes-yellow, turquoise, red, orange, turquoise, red, black, fuchsia
Snow added
Snow packed on top of fabrics which are bleeding a bit.
Layers of dye-blue,yellow
Layer of yellow then blue or turquoise dye sprinkled. I’m looking to create shades of greens and browns.
Layers of dye-black, orange
More layers, black and a splash of orange.
Snow Melted first time.
Snow melted – new colors
First Snow Dye results
Kept these and put the others back in for another snow-dye bath. I like the muted soft colors. Dark one is purple. First one started out solid yellow.
Spools to settle
I used spools in bottoms of the containers to allow the melted snow to stay below the fabric so the fabric doesn’t soak in the mixed dyes. Marbles, ping pong balls, a grid -anything that would hold the fabric up away from the liquid would do the trick. This time I soaked the fabric in a bath of soda ash and water first. The soda ash will help the dye adhere to the fabric for more intense colors.
9Dye added-reduced
Snow and dye added again – dyes should soak through the fabric and meld as they soak into neighboring areas, but retain some of their own color in other areas.. Melt, melt, melt! That’s always the plea throughout the winter, right? Notice, I remembered to put down a protective plastic cover this time. I always work inside of a large plastic crate so that my spills and overflows are contained there – except for the sleeves of my shirt which seem to drag through the dye and then drip down my arms. I wear a mask when working with the soda ash and dyes so that I don’t breathe in the fine powders.
Overdyes
These are the results of the overdyeing. I love the cloudy sky, but it may work for something else too. The other subdued colors are just what I was hoping for. Now…. let’s get to work!